News and notes from the Grand Forks Herald's Brad Elliott Schlossman

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The Daily Dose – Wednesday

The strange offseason for the University of Denver just took another turn.

Longtime assistant Steve Miller, a force on the recruiting trail for the Pioneers, has decided to take a job as the head coach of the startup USHL team in Madison.

Miller hails from nearby Sun Prairie, Wis., so he will sort of be going home. He was in his 20th year with Denver.

The release from DU didn’t state how the university would proceed with finding a replacement, nor did the story from the Denver Post. But it is very uncommon for a team to lose a coach when the season already started, but not unprecedented.

It happened to Wisconsin just last year when assistant Bill Butters suddenly quit and the Badgers hired an interim assistant, Matt Walsh, who ended up staying on staff.

*****

There’s a story in the Omaha paper that says coach Dean Blais is ready to bench players if they keep taking penalties. Read it here.

That may bring back some old memories for UND fans.

When Matt Greene was a freshman, Blais told him that if he takes one more penalty, he’s done for the night. If I recall correctly, Greene did take a penalty in the first period, and instead of going to the box, he skated straight to the locker room.

The three most penalized teams in the country so far are Bowling Green, Michigan Tech and Bentley. Omaha is fourth.

*****

There will be no Ice Time in Friday’s paper because there’s only an exhibition game this weekend. Look for a story on recruit Shane Gersich, who will play against the Fargo Force on Friday night and against UND on Saturday as a member of the U.S. Under-18 team.